Beer of the Week: Small Worlds

From the Beer Writer: Hop burn is real. You may have never heard of it, but if you drink IPAs you’ve probably experienced it. It’s the over-the-top astringency that leaves a burning, scratchy sensation in one’s throat after swallowing a hoppy beer. This defect came to light at the height of the hazy IPA craze, as brewers stripped back bitterness to show off hop-borne flavors, allowing drinkers to more easily pick up on said burn. Over that same time span, craft breweries worked to lower the perceived bitterness of clear and unfiltered West Coast-style IPAs, enough that hop burn became detectable and problematic. This phenomenon has led fermentationists to reevaluate the way they craft their IPAs so as to reduce hop burn. Count Zack Kaplan, head brewer at North Park brewpub, The Original 40 Brewing, among them. When developing the recipe for this week’s featured beer, Small Worlds West Coast IPA, he employed cutting-edge hop products and a host of techniques (which we won’t give away here) to keep the beer vibrantly hoppy on the front-end and mid-palate, while keeping the finish dry and pleasant. And it worked! Guava and passionfruit translate from the bouquet to the taste buds where they mingle with flavors of pineapple and tangerine. A modest spike of hop bitterness wipes it all away, leaving zero heat or aftertaste in its wake.

From the Brewer: “As the West Coast IPA continues to evolve with new hop varieties, products and techniques being adopted by our brewing community, we continue to push the flavor profiles of our IPAs, as well. Wanting to create a multi-dimensional, full-flavored West Coast IPA, Small Worlds highlights Mosaic along with the rounded berry and ripe fruit notes of both Strata and El Dorado hops. We’re definitely stoked on how this one came out! With a smooth body, low bitterness, newer techniques and advanced hop products creating a hop saturation and full hop flavor, we are also trying to reduce and minimize ‘hop burn’ and grassier profiles that can come across in some modern examples. This is just another step in our own journey to experiment and learn from our process and techniques, while gaining feedback from our customers and the San Diego brewing community. Cheers and here’s hoping everyone enjoys it!”—Zack Kaplan, Head Brewer, The Original 40 Brewing